[Russell-Evans]

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Anyone have/use one of these? I would love to know if it will hold the flashes in position. I'm thinking of this with a pair of the AF 200FG units.



Thanks in advance.

Thank you
Russell

[Ratmagiclady]

You know, just last night, I was poking around looking at bracketry options the other night, (Was looking for things and parts that might do the job of like a Demb: of course, I had to think of a way to possibly improve on the design. ) ... and noticed stuff like this being out there, (Some likely better-made versions,even, at B&H)

I'd be skeptical about them holding things well in general, but if everything's standing still, like on a tripod, I imagine it'd work for a couple of those 200s, if anything. I don't know how much they'll hold if you move around.

I suppose if any of the little plastic ball joints go wrong, you could just glue em, though.

[Russell-Evans]

I started this project by purchasing two 200FG flashes at a closing Ritz store, although I didn't really know what to do with the flashes at that time. In watching the usual places for used equipment, Adorama, B&H, Keh, ebay, and Pentax Forums for the last year, I put together two sets of flash cables. The only thing left was a mount for the flashes.

I had been looking at the Xotopro QMM1 bracket, but its $199 price was more than my budget. The Olympus FL-BKM03 was the least expensive option at $170, but still way over my budget. For the last five months or so, this has been where the project stalled.

A few weeks ago I saw the Duo Flash mount and posted to a couple of places asking if anyone had bought one, including here. I got one positive reply from an owner at DPR, so I went ahead with buying it. I have only had it in my hands for an hour or so and I'm not going to be able to play with it for a few weeks, so I thought I would post a couple of quick photos and say that it works.






The flex tubing is the smaller 1/4 inch joints. It is pretty bouncy, but seems to hold pretty well. The flex tube is pretty long as well, which is good as it allows the ability to add bends into the arm to provide more stability. The 1/2 tubing would be better, but this might just be fine. It is definitely more portable.

US $29.95 + Shipping
cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=330417323003

I'm going to replace the mounts on the ball heads as the cables don't have locks. A couple of the units below should work out pretty well.

US $10
cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=310209348088

Hopefully I'll get some use out of them this spring and can post a better impression of the set up. I'm pretty sure next winter I'll add a remote battery pack to the set up to get the eight AA battery weight off the mount's arms. Without batteries the flashes weigh 6.8 oz each. That should really help with the bounce.

Thank you
Russell

[reeftool]

I was given a gorilla pod for a Christmas a few years ago. It was the smallest and lightest they made. It won't hold a DSLR with a lens ( a least not a K10D) but works fine with my older P&S and also my Canon mini DV camcorder. It appears to be the same product set up to hold a flash. It should do that easily.

[Ratmagiclady]

Cool! Glad it's working out. Question for when you return, : are those little ballheads decent/do they come off the flexible arms? If they could take a standard-size tripod screw, that thing looks like it could actually solve a few nagging little problems I've been scratching my head about/putting off buying doodads for if the parts can be used separately.

Kind of a whole bunch of little hassles that either don't come up much or haven't presented a very elegant solution and all. Looks pretty useful. You could put like a reflector, diffuser, or black card on one of the arms and have some pretty nice options, I think.

[Russell-Evans]

are those little ballheads decent/do they come off the flexible arms?

The ball heads are threaded but are glued to the arm. I don't have a need to remove them, so won't try. They hold the 220FG well and I can adjust them enough to be able to move the flashes, but still stay in position. This is only at the top of the ball head, moving down the slot is another story.

I am also thinking the arms would be useful for holding square filters and might also be useful as a McClamp. I just need to mount a small clamp on one of the arms.

Thank you
Russell

[Russell-Evans]

Camera: Pentax K20D
Exposure: 1/125
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 210 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Len: Sigma AF 70-210mm f3.5-4.5 APO



Camera: Pentax K20D
Exposure: 1/180
Aperture: f/16
Focal Length: 210 mm
ISO Speed: 800
Lens: Sigma 70-210mm f3.5-4.5 APO




Camera: Pentax K20D
Exposure: 1/60
Aperture: f/11
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Pentax FA 50mm f2.8 macro


Thank you
Russell

[Russell-Evans]

I have no experience with this set up, but I was looking around on ebay to see how inexpensive a set up could be.

You would need one Pentax cable set up, two FG hotshoe and one 3 ft cable at $75, one generic P-TTL off ebay for $30, the mount at $30, and two $47 Digital Concepts P-TTL flashes. Total would be around $229.

If you are willing to mod cables, you could probably use two of the ebay P-TTL cables instead of one Pentax cable setup and one ebay P-TTL cable.

http://cgi.ebay.com/...-Camera-Shoe-Flash-Cord-Pentax-K-7-K200D-/200459582927
http://cgi.ebay.com/...cated-Flash-Pentax-K100D-K110D-K10D-112f-/360256103662






The flashes are 140g and take 4 AAA batteries.
Thank you
Russell